The Future of Test Equipment: Facing Complex Challenges

The Future of Test Equipment: Facing Complex Challenges

ATE Vision 2020 Workshop Co-Located at SEMICON West this Year

Where is the Automated Test Equipment (ATE) industry heading? Some say into trouble. As Moore's law continues to move forward with denser, faster, and highly heterogeneous devices, the challenges associated with test seem to expand exponentially. How will multiple cores on a die and 3D trends enabled by die-stacking and thru-silicon-vias (TSVs) further complicate the situation? Test insiders wonder if our present technologies are adequate in the short term and what the ATE community should focus on now to deal with issues that will surface in the 2012-2013 timeframe. And what will ATE look like in 2020? What can the industry do now to proactively address possible technology gaps?

The ATE Vision 2020 workshop addresses these issues in a unique way on July 15, 2010 during the SEMICON West exhibition in San Francisco, Calif. The workshop, offered by the IEEE Computer Society, is an informal forum to discuss innovations relevant to ATE developers and users. It encourages speculation and creative brainstorming of problems and issues that ATE developers and users will run into in both the short term and the long term. It’s an opportunity to challenge each other in the world of test.

This year’s ATE Vision 2020 workshop chair Erik Volkerink of Verigy commented, “We are grateful to SEMI for hosting this year’s workshop. We believe the workshop focus offers a fine complement to SEMI’s technical program at SEMICON West, and will provide a spirited forum for its international attendees to share information and exchanging perspectives on the future of ATE.”